Muzak thinks about you

Every day, Muzak is heard by 100 million people, the equivalent of more than a third of the U.S. population.

But if you're straining to remember the last time you heard sleep-inducing orchestrations of the Beatles played in an elevator or grocery-store frozen-food aisle, you have it all wrong. That was the old Muzak.

Today's Muzak is played in the Gap, McDonald's and Barnes & Noble and in homes via the Dish Network, to name a few. It sounds completely different, featuring combinations of upbeat, toe-tapping songs.

Muzak was founded by Gen. Owen Squier, who during the Great Depression patented the transmission of music over electricity lines. The name Muzak combines the word "music" with "Kodak," Squier's favorite company.

Squier introduced music into typing pools to help boost productivity. In the 1930s, as buildings grew taller and elevators became more prominent, Muzak was piped in to soothe the nerves of riders leery of the new contraptions. Thus, elevator music was born.

In the subsequent decades, Muzak spread into retailers, restaurants and other businesses countrywide. During Eisenhower's administration, Muzak was played in the White House. Astronauts even listened to Muzak in the Apollo lunar spacecraft.

Today, Muzak is a privately held company. The principal owner is ABRY Partners, a Boston-based media investment firm.

Muzak estimates it is heard in about 60% of the U.S. businesses that subscribe to music programming.